Hey, tis elderotter of the Mature Players thread - with some timely thoughts on PBEM's.
The more people in the game the more likely it is that 1 or more players will get the game attachment and then take a few days off, just decide not to play and leave everyone hanging or have a full mailbox so that they don't know they have it.
I was in a 16 player game - it took 9 days to get my first turn - 5 of them with everyone trying to figure out who had the attachment. after it passed me this happened again. The other game I am in has 2 other players and 3 AI's this game is part of a loose gaming group with their own site. I have taken my third turn, no holdups at all.
Thoughts - be careful who you ask into a game - and I think your game will go smoother if you ask people rather than posting a thread and who knows who joins the game. Perhaps do as I did and find a group of people and play with them - and having a site for the group helps alot too...members only games mean that there is a lower chance that someone will get in who only wants to join - not actually play. And PBEM games are not for the impatient - which i found out - lol Finally had to let go of my impatience - figure min 1 day's wait for each person playing the game. Keep in close contact with each other - if someone is not responding at all to emails - cut them if retired an AI kicks in and I believe you can replace an AI with another human.
This type of game can be frustrating because you take a turn and then have to wait for awhile till the next...unneccesary delays from people who aren't really interested can cause frustration to go up alot.
My thoughts summed up - unless you thrive on frustration play these games with people who you know are dedicated players, form groups, and keep it to by invitation only. Thanks for letting me rant.:lol:

I totally agree with your "rants" !

I launched quite a bunch of the PBEMs in the Civ3 forum and can only agree.
I would add some things though :
1/ Scenarios are a great way of playing PBEMs. Most start with some immediate action which helps motivate newcomers, no need to wait 40 turns or so before having something interesting (and especially interactive) going on. Besides, since these games are shorter than standard games, it is both easier to see an end (for the players) and easier to see it reach it a conclusion (for the admin/the game).
2/ whereas invitational-only PBEMs are usually a great way to get a solid and reliable team, newcomers should not be completely forgotten.
I usually set up some dynamic small (in terms of human players/duration) games for newbies that were a good instruction for them and a good way to see/check their reliability to include them in later more important games.
3/ some PBEMs really last long and even with good reliable human players it is difficult to get a good turnaround if you have more than 6 of them (holidays, high RL workload, business trips,...). If they last very long even reliable players can drop because their interest has switched after 1 or 2 years (that happens !)...
4/ It can help dramatically the speed of the turnaround if you establish a play order based on actual playing times and time zones. For instance if someone who plays early morning sends to someone in a different time zone and that can only play late the next day that will make nearly 2 days whereas in the reverse order it could amount to 6 hours.

it took 9 days to get my first turn.
If you want a fast PBEM game make sure that you are in the same Timezone and that there is specific time period where you can blast through a decent number of turns together. It also helps to have good communication between players e.g. Tell people to post when they just have recieved/sent the game.